To be able to protect unarmed merchant ships from attack by pirates, for example, the risk of an imminent pirate attack must first be promptly detected. Then auxiliary forces equipped with suitable weapons and capable of intervening quickly at the site of the attack are successfully deployed to ward off the attack before the pirates can board the at-risk ship and take the crew hostage.
To promptly detect an imminent pirate attack, for example, it is first necessary to observe and conduct surveillance of the at-risk ships that are to be protected and the maritime shipping route. A distinction is to be made between two possible deployment scenarios, namely a first deployment scenario in which a convoy of ships traveling on a maritime shipping route is monitored, such that the surveillance equipment travels with the convoy, and a second deployment scenario in which an entire maritime shipping route is monitored by a plurality of quasi-stationary surveillance units, and ships traveling on the maritime shipping route go from one surveillance area into the next surveillance area.
To ward off a pirate attack detected as part of this surveillance on a ship that is to be protected, combat means should be available in proximity to the respective surveillance area, the combat means being ready for deployment immediately after detection of a pirate attack and being able to thwart a pirate attack even before the pirates seek to board the ship to be protected.